Hi Travel Experts =)

I will be embarking on a wintry holiday in Central/Eastern Europe in one week and am deciding if I should get a Eurail pass or simply buy point-to-point tickets. My iternary as follows:

21th Dec: Geneva (day trip to Lake Geneva)
22nd Dec: Interlaken
23rd Dec: Zurich (overnight to Salzburg)
Christmas Eve: Salzburg
Christmas Day: Salzburg/Vienna
Boxing Day: Vienna (overnight to Prague)
27th to 28th Dec: Prague
29th to 30th Dec: Krakow

As you can see, I will be making about 6 train journeys in all, including 2 overnighters. I got estimates of point-to-point tickets from the Net, and it seems the total cost of these tckets are still cheaper than a pass. However, one of my friends recommended me an Austria-Swiss pass on the basis that overnight trains journeys are much cheaper with a pass. He told me that a point-to-point overnight ticket from Zurich to Salzburg costs about 25euros with a pass, and 100 euros without a pass (don't ask me where he got this info from!!!). I know I probably shouldn't get a pass for Prague and Krakow, considering how cheap railing is in Eastern Europe. I'm just not sure about the Austria-Switzerland part!

So I really appreciate if any of you PHDs in travel here can advise me if I should get an Eurail pass, and which type you would reccommend. I would also like to know if Eurail passes will cover the day trip from Geneva city to Lake Geneva!

Thanks in advance for making my Xmas holidays a more well-planned one!

Cheers,
Shaun

The direct day time ~6 hour Zurich -> Salzburg trip is CHF121 (~€75) without a railpass according to www.sbb.ch. The site would not quote me the "overnight" (2240-0424, 5h44m) trip cost, but it should cost the same, plus additional cash if you want a proper bed. You can use www.sbb.ch contact SBB for a quote online and get an answer back via email in less than 24h.

(If you are agressive about costs, SBB has limited Click&Rail Europe (Austria) seats for as low as CHF49 (~€30) that are for sale the week beforehand.)

What do you mean "the day trip from Geneva city to Lake Geneva"? Geneva is on the lake.

Hi Stoo,

Thanks for your quick reply. Yup, I got confused when talking about "the day trip from Geneva city to Lake Geneva". As you can see, Im not that familiar with Swiss geography. Yet =)

Thanks for providing the information about the Swiss Click&Rail tickets. Do you know if the Austrian and Czech Republic train websites have similar cheap tickets on sale?

If anyone has taken the rail journeys that Im going to take, and can provide a good approximation of the cost, I will really appreciate it!

Cheers,
Shaun